For more than 10 years, UN-HABITAT has been operating in humanitarian and crisis situations, supporting efforts by national governments, local authorities and civil society to strengthen their capacities to manage and recover from human-made and natural disasters and mitigate future disasters. Having acknowledged the discontinuity within the international aid community between the short-term humanitarian imperative and longer- term reconstruction and development priorities, UN-HABITAT has offered its own specific perspectives on bridging this divide. UN-HABITAT is indeed in a strong position to act in a technical advisory function in two major areas: (1) the development of local capacities for disaster management and mitigation, and (2) supporting the capacities of external bodies to provide operational responses in a sustainable development perspective. In recognition of this contribution, in April 2004 UN-HABITAT was invited to outline before the UN Executive Committee for Humanitarian Affairs (ECHA) its own perspectives on, and support to, international interventions in the area of shelter and human settlements.